Tag: Project-Bag

Next up in the Tote Bag Department

As you may recall, I made this lining for the Cupcake Tote, but ended up not using it.

After finishing the Eggplant/Lemon tote and embellishing the Chocolate Flower Tote, I, once again, turned my attention to this troublesome lining. It wasn’t intentionally troublesome, but the colors turned out to be a problem.

I looked through my fabric, not really sure what to pick. I pulled out these dots from the Timeless Treasures Basix collection. I love these dots, though I love the ones with the white backgrounds more. I thought I would use them, but when I looked at the three pieces together, I decided that making visually decisions visually was a good idea. The colors in the cake fabric didn’t go with the dots. No purple or pink in the dots and no turquoise or orange in the cake fabric. Too bad, because I have a lot of black dot fabrics that I haven’t used at all. The outside fabrics had to go with the lining, though.

After looking carefully at the focus fabric and looking through my black and white fabrics, I found this red batik and this violet dot.

This is the grouping that I picked. I wanted the fabrics to all go together without being too matchy-matchy. I also wanted to use some dots. The violet dot is very thin and I don’t like it forpiecing. I don’t have much of that red batik, but think it will be nice as an accent. I completely ignored the aqua pockets that I already sewed to the inside of the lining. Nobody will see them much except the owner.

Stay tuned.

Latest Fashion in Tote Bags

I worked on some totes this weekend. The Chocolate Flower tote was completed this summer (wrote about it on July 26), but something was missing. In general, I am also not liking the big blobs of fabric that the big outside pockets tend to become. I found a random piece of ribbon with the perfect colors. I used it to embellish the tote’s outside pocket last night. When I auditioned it, I thought the ribbon made the green in the flower print stand out.
In future totes I want to work on making the outside pocket less of a big blob.

My newest tote is the eggplant/lemon tote. I started it on my summer vacation, but didn’t work on it again until this weekend, .
The lemon flower fabric is from a recent Moda collection (Fresh Squeezed by Sandy Gervais??). I love the colors in the vegee/eggplant fabric. It is a very fun fabric that I would, probably, never use in a quilt.

Here is the inside of the bag. I have started to put large pockets on the insides of all the bags in addition to the small pocket. They are very useful.

Cupcake Tote


Here is the finished cupcake tote bag! The cupcake fabric is that which I bought from Clemetine’s Dry Goods a few months ago. I originally thought I would use a black cake fabric for the inside and I went so far as to construct it, but decided that it really didn’t go with the delicate aqua of the outside and changed the lining to this lovely turquoise cake with stands fabric. I bought that fabric at Capital Quilts AND at one of the shops in Connecticut while I was there.

Since I have not been able to figure out how to use the buttonholer on my machine, the buttons are decorative only. I put them there to break up that large expanse of pink. I have to go and get some more of these buttons as I love them. They have some style! They are vintage buttons from Britex and there are a couple of different styles available made out of the same material.

Before I put the large white buttons on, I tried these pewter teapot/coffee cup buttons. They were ok, but the bag required some bolder embellishments.
This is the original lining for the cupcake bag. I decided, eventually, that it just didn’t go with the light aqua and abandoned it for the turquoise gateau fabric lining. I’ll use this for another bag. Not sure which yet.

Next bag is the eggplant/lemon bag. 😉

Amy Butler Tote redux

I found the Amy Butler tote on the K&C Company website. It looks really nice and has gotten rave reviews from some people who have emailed and commented. I’ll have to think about it before I buy. I still want the pattern so I can try and make it from my own fabric.

clipped from www.kandcompany.com

Amy Butler Belle Fabric Scrapbooking Tote Bag

Hold everything! Our exclusive, Amy-Butler-Designed craft bags are great for creativity on the go!

Made of durable, padded canvas, these versatile creativity bags are divided into: one wide 12×12 pocket, one flat 12×12 pocket, one open compartment with three small, wide pockets on each side, and two exterior side pockets that are perfect for photographs or tech gear like a digital camera, cell phone or mp3 player.

Use to hold an album, 12×12 papers, embellishments, paper cutter, fabric, yarn skein, tools, photographs, projects and so much more!

Shell: EVA Foam-Backed 100% Cotton
Lining: 100% Cotton
SPOT CLEAN ONLY

Amy Butler Belle Fabric Scrapbooking Tote Bag
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More Complex Bags

I was at Pacific Fabrics yesterday and saw this great bag from K & C Company and Amy Butler. It is called the Creativity Bag and says it was designed for scrapbooking.

TFQ and I liked it because of the interior dividers. I don’t think I would want to carry it around all the time, but it would make a nice travel bag. Frankly, I would just like to try to make one. Either the design or the fabric is licensed, so, after discussing with TFQ, we are skeptical that they are also selling a pattern. It seems like they would just want to sell the complete bag. I’ll have to look carefully, though, on the Web to be sure.

TFQ found a pattern she bought several years ago, which is similar. It has the dividers inside, but doesn’t have a really good variety of photos of different angles.


More Tote Bags

Margi, over at maverickcrafter.blogspot.com, sent me over to Canton Quiltworks where I saw she had made a tote. You might be thinking that this is no big deal except that I bought this magazine while I was in Seattle and TFQ and I were scrutinizing the pattern. We seem to do that with all the totes we see now.

I was pleased to see that this pattern actually worked when made up. I am still not a fan of the hard handles, but I do like the look of the bottom of the bag. I especially like the way there seems to be one bag inside another. The colors on this rendition are quite appealing as well.

A Bag, A Cat, and A Giveaway!!!!

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Two Bag Day

I had resolved to look at all of the Pineapple blocks yesterday in order to see how many I need to remake in order make progress on the Pineapples. It has been kind of a Pineapple disaster couple of weeks and I wanted to get back to it.

But, I didn’t.

Instead I worked on the easy project and finished a bag and made another whole bag. Yes, start to finish. I am going to use it today.

This is the bag that I had been working on. It is kind of part of a small series of bags made from fabric that I bought from Fabric.com. I was going to keep this one for myself, thus the dots, but I don’t think I will. I like it and find it to be well made, but the colors aren’t me. I need a another bag for a gift and will probably use this one as the gift. I also decided that I don’t really like the paisley fabric that much. I was happy with the way I centered that one paisley on the pocket.

The white dots had been languishing in my sewing room for awhile and I wanted to get them into a bag. I, originally, wanted to make an entire bag out of them, but didn’t have enough of the dot fabric. One of the fabrics I bought on Saturday was destined for the inside of this bag. I also used the webbing straps I bought at Britex for this bag. They made the sewing go REALLY fast. However, I melted one part of a strap and got goo all over my iron, so I may not use them again. I also don’t like the limited color selection. Anyone know of a good source for these straps? How about nice colors and NOT made from plastic?

This is the inside of the bag. Isn’t it fun!?! It is a very sedate bag until you open it and then it gives you a little punch. I love this fabric, because it makes me feel cheerful when I look at it. I was shocked to find that it is a Judy Rothermel Aunt Grace fabric!

I cut out the pieces for another bag and will use this cheerful flower fabric for the outside of a bag as well. Yes, I am going bag crazy.

Bags Return, Part 2


As I mentioned in my previous post, I bought fabric to make a bag for my SIL for a gift.

TFQ and I were emailing back and forth about the EMT bags and she mentioned an easier way to make the straps. The method she found on another pattern has you make them quadruple the size of the finished strap, fold in half, open, fold each raw edge towards the middle and press. I used this method for making straps for my latest bag (above) and after about an hour of work I am ready to apply the large outside pocket and sew the bags together. The straps are on the outside, the pockets are positioned. TFQ’s method, while using more fabric, made the process amazingly fast. I didn’t think that the process explained on the pattern was terrible, but making the straps was terrible and this is much better. I think I will have time to make a couple of other bags for people I will visit this summer. YAY!

This is a good example of why collaboration is so important. As you can see, I have made a lot of progress on the project.

Bags Return


Here are some recent fabrics that I bought from Fabric.com. The bottom fabrics are all home dec fabrics. I am going to use them to make another Eco Market Tote. I have a running list in my mind of bags I’d like to make for friends, so this is crossing the first gift off the mental list. I may have enough to make a dotty bag for myself. I had planned to use the stripe as the outside, but DH said that he thought the blue dot outside would be better, so that is what I will do.

The violet dot at the top was me attempting to replace the fabulous violet dot I got somewhere about a year ago. The color is absolutely right, but the weave (what is it with the weave thing I have going??) is really thin and the violet bleeds into the white dots.

Note to online retailers: don’t buy thin fabric and sell it as first quality quiltmaking fabric. Thanks!

Follow-up: Series of Bags

In case you didn’t have a chance to read some of the recent comments, Laume wondered about the sturdiness of the Eco Market Tote that I discussed in a previous post, by asking “I’ve been wanting to make some bags for awhile now and have been resistant to actually buying a pattern – a bag – how hard can that be I think. But I know I really do need a pattern and so instead I just talk about making a bag some day. Are these sturdy? Are the shoulder straps comfortable when they’re weighted down? They all look wonderful, especially the first one with the big art deco print.”

TFQ saw that comments and answered:

“I’ve been using the red/white/black one for a couple of days and the straps are pretty comfortable — not cutting into my shoulder despite my walking a mile and a half to work with about 10 pounds of stuff in it.

I think the straps would be less comfortable if we had not made them wider, and interfacing the handles for the lighter-weight fabric definitely helps. The bags are completely lined — in fact, they are reversible — which helps with the sturdiness factor, but for a bag you’re going to use to haul around a lot, I agree with Jaye, choose a fabric with a little body to it, like heavier linen or a lightweight home dec fabric. ”

The Eco Market tote comes from Favorite Things. Watch out for the errors described in the previous post. The company said that they have fixed them, but the patterns with errors are still in quilt shops.

Series of Bags

TFQ and I went to Quiltworks Northwest in Bellevue on Friday. At the shop, TFQ saw this bag made up and bought the pattern. The pattern is called Eco Market Tote and is from Favorite Things. I don’t normally buy or even think about non-quilt things, so I didn’t pay much attention. I was interested, but not from the making point of view. I am not sure what lit the spark, but after we visited the Quilting Loft and saw the Alexander Henry Home Dec fabrics, I knew I wanted to make one. TFQ suggested that we make them and it was a great idea. I would have never finished mine if TFQ and I had made the first ones together/at the same time. While we were working with our own fabrics, we puzzled out the directions together. We, unfortunately, got the first printing of the pattern and there are a few mistakes, which have, since, been corrected (TFQ contacted the company). We also made some adjustments, like making the handles wider than the pattern calls for.

The fabulous thing that I found is that this is a great opportunity to work in series. No, it is not a quilt, but it is a great canvas for showcasing fabric combinations. There is also a lot of room for creativity – different types of pockets, different fabric combinations, different fabric ratios and even embellishment. I know that TFQ has picked out fabrics for two more and I would like to make more as well. I have several large conversational fabrics in the quilt backs stack that would really be great as bags. I also have some great French fabrics that a friend brought me from France that would make excellent totes.

This is my bag. As mentioned, the fabrics are from the Alexander Henry Home Collection. They feel like canvas, but may be a kind of cotton duck. I am actually kind of stunned that I picked them out as the accent fabric has a lot of brown and all of the fabrics are very 1960s looking.
This was a great project to branch out in the fabric department and try something new. I wouldn’t buy these for a quilt, but for this bag, they are great!

Back of the bag in construction phase.Front of bag with pocket pinned on. The back and front are the same until you put the pocket on. The above picture is how that back looks and the picture below, as you can see from the picture of the finished product, is how the front looks.

This is the third bag. TFQ made it today.

She added two more pockets on this side to break up all the black. The new pockets do a good job of bringing the red fabric back into the limelight.


The lovely piece below has the distinction of being the first bag we completed. It is TFQ’s bag, but I think it was a real collaborative effort – at least int he brain power department. This was also the bag we learned on. The fabrics are fabulous and it turned out really well.
Detail of the the reinforcing X stitching to keep the handle secure.